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Technology
Anyone practising public relations in the
financial sector today will testify to the importance
of technology as possibly the single
most critical element in the economies of the
developed world.
Technology stocks have, for some investors,
even taken over as the barometer of performance
of the stock market from the traditional
baskets of blue chip shares such as the FTSE in
the UK, the Dow Jones Index in the United
States, and the Hang Seng in Hong Kong.
The ‘bust’ in technology stocks that began
in 1999 and gathered steam, leading to the
bursting of the dot.com bubble, had a ripple
effect that was felt throughout the entire
global economy. In 2001, every positive
report from a major tech sector company was
put under the microscope as a possible harbinger
of a return to boom conditions for all
shares.
This leadership among investments was the
result of technology’s explosive growth over
three decades, with the arrival of Clive Sinclair
in Britain and Steve Jobs, Paul Allen and Bill
Gates in the United States.
The drivers of this phenomenon have been
the internet, the personal computer (PC), the
digital revolution and the mobile phone and
personal digital assistant (PDA).
If money represents the building blocks of
the new global economy, technology is the
cement that will hold them together. These
are the two most international specialties
within the entire field of public relations.
And according to the statistics of the Council
of PR firms, in 2001 technology was still by
far the largest specialty within public relations
even though revenues dropped by 20
per cent from their record level in 2000 (Table
26.3).
Table 26.3 Industry sector: technology 2001
revenues
Firm name
Consumer products and services
In the broad consumer and lifestyles field
there are PR specialties in food and nutrition,
retail, home improvement, household durables,
fashion and beauty, luxury goods, the
home office, toys, entertainment and the arts,
personal finance. Because of the size of the
industries they encompass, some consumer
sub-specialties deserve special mention.
Trade associations, not for profit organizations
and business to business are further
broad categories of public relations.
Specialties by practice
2001 revenue
($)
1 Weber Shandwick Worldwide 90,613,120
2 Fleishman-Hillard 88,020,000
3 Waggener Edstrom, Inc. 56,685,000
4 Hill and Knowlton 47,357,000
5 Porter Novelli 41,862,000
6 Brodeur Worldwide 39,600,000
7 Edelman Public Relations
Worldwide 37,646,937
8 Ketchum 31,545,000
9 SCHWARTZ COMMUNICA-
TIONS 30,375,804
10 Ogilvy Public Relations
Worldwide 28,678,821
Total top 10 492,383,682
Source: Council of PR Firms/PR Week rankings
Specialization in PR occurs in practice areas as
well as by industry category. Important practice
areas are public affairs, which includes
public policy, governmental relations and
legislative affairs; environmental affairs; crisis
and issues management; employee communi-
© 2004 Sandra Oliver for editorial matter and selection;
individual chapters, the contributors